The makings of a good soldier
by sakura-blossoms-26
Summary: Steve grew up in the great depression, we all know that. But what happens when this past comes back to haunt him? When Tony gets annoyed and jabs Steve while he's sleeping and accidentally injects him with a reverse serum for the super soldier serum, Steve turns into five-year-old. How will the Avengers team cope with Steve's intense medical issues? Kid!Steve Stony Avengers fam
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! Sakura-Blossoms26 here :) I know, I know. I haven't finished any of my fics yet but I had an idea that I can't seem to get out of my mind. This is a fic on a de-aged/pre-serum Steve Rogers (Captain America for you mini-fans) that popped into my mind while I was on Ifunny.**

**First, I'd like to explain that any and all updates will most likely be sporadic. I'm in college/university classes on top of high school and dealing with bullies. That's taking up a lot of my energy these days and it's a struggle. I'll try and do one update a week but again, it might not happen.**

**Here's the extended summary: Steve, after being stuck with a syringe with unknown contents, suddenly reverts back to the age of five. This leaves him pre-serum, sick, in an unknown place, and in the hands of the other Avengers who know absolutely nothing about him. Tony finds out more about his crush and, in the end, starts to understand the capsicle. A bit angsty, a good amount of fluff and hurt/comfort as well. Bucky appears after he heard about Steve's plight**

**Disclaimer: I do not, nor ever will, own the Avengers, Captain America or anything put the words I type. If I did, Stony would be real and the Cap would be in my basement helping me with this story.**

**(That being said, if anyone finds the the capsicle is missing, I did not take him! Bucky is lying!)**

**Chapter 1: The basis of a good soldier**

Steve never spoke about his childhood. He was the one who just sat in the room and listened, occasionally reading a book as he just basked in the other's company. When he was asked, he would shake his head and smile pleasantly before changing the subject to something different. When pushed, he would sometimes talk about Bucky and his many adventures. When he would talk about those times, the rest of the room would be dead silent. It was almost as if they wanted to soak up every little detail they could. Steve was a good story teller as well! He didn't get hung up on little things and laughed at his own stories some of the time. These were the moments everyone loved because they were the moments that there was nothing trying to kill them.

At the moment, Tony was talking about his own childhood with his father, Howard Stark, gone constantly. "Steve met my dad when he was in the military a few times, didn't you?" Tony said as he looked at the older male. Steve was dead asleep like the old man he was, his head tipped back and a small snore coming out from his open mouth. It was obvious that their late nights saving the world had been taking it's toll on him. For once, the man wasn't listening. Tony would _so _mess with him on this tomorrow.

Banner looked up at the other Avengers and shook his head when he saw the evil look on Tony's face. "Let him be. How many times have we been woken up for an emergency? Every night this week?" he paused for a moment before continuing, "He doesn't go back to sleep. I should know, we room next to each other. He paces the whole time until it's time to get up. Which, if I may remind you, is around five-thirty every morning for him." There was silence in the room. Tony seemed to pout and shook his head. "He's always awake. Besides, I need his help for this part. He only knows what happened to the hover car!" Clint let out sigh from the other side of the room before going back to his Modern Warfare game. Tony could be such a child sometimes!

Tony began to look around the room for things he could use to wake Steve up. His eyes caught on the seemingly empty syringe besides Banner and he swiped it up. What he didn't know was this was the reverse agent for Steve's super soldier serum. It was something Banner had been working on for a while now, wanting to see if he could use it on himself to clear up the big guy for good. He hated the giant green monster and honestly just wanted it gone. Banner didn't see Stark swipe it and sit down again next to Steve.

Tony made sure the cap on the syringe was off and then picked a place to poke the super soldier with. The fleshy part of his upper arm seemed like a good point. He smirked and quickly jabbed Steve with it. The man was awake quicker than humanly possible, letting out a shrill yell and wrenching his arm away from the needle. In surprise at Steve jerking, Tony's hold on the syringe loosened and his thumb pressed down the plunger. Steve winced and glared at Tony before ripping the sharp object out of his arm.

"What was that for?" Steve asked as he rubbed his arm. Tony smiled cheekily before speaking. "Oh, just the fact that you were sleeping while we were talking," he replied and returned to his story. Steve grumbled and looked at his arm where Tony had injected him with whatever it was. There was a small pinprick of blood and he wiped it away.

"Steve, whatever happened to that hovercar my dad built and showed? The first one I mean," asked Tony, who was now lounging on the couch and smiling at Steve. "It broke. Lifted up a few feet and then slammed back down. He showed it at the fair where I got picked up for the super soldier program," came Steve's reply as he rubbed at his eyes.

"Did you really just wake me up for that?" he asked after a moment when Tony had gone back to his story. Tony shrugged and wiggled his eyebrows. "Maybe, capsicle. You really want to know?" Steve nodded in response and glared daggers as he stood. "I'm going to bed. I'm tired. Unless there are any objections?" When the rest of the room was silent, Steve gave them a curt good-night and retreated to his room.  
>As soon as Steve was gone and the occupants of the room had heard Steve's door close, the room erupted in chaos. "Really Tony? He barely sleeps these days and you decide to wake him up when it was obvious he wasn't having any nightmares?" Clint asked and shook his head as he finally paused his video game.<p>

"We all know I'm a torrential ass at times. Shut up, will you? Blueberry anyone?" he held out the bag, already chomping on a few. "No Tony, we don't want a blueberry," Natasha answered and snatched the bag out of Tony's hands. "Now, when Steve wakes up tomorrow morning, you will apologize to him for waking him. Understand?" Tony let out a groan and threw his hands up. "Fine," he answered after a moment, "Would you like me to go apologize to the capsicle now then?"

Natasha shook her head and glared at Tony for a moment. "No, stop patronizing us. How would you feel if we woke you up out of nowhere?" Tony grinned childishly and wiggled his eyebrows at the assassin. "If it's you, sweetcheeks, I would drag you into my bed and hold you like a teddy bear."

SLAP!

Natasha glared at Tony and shook her head. Tony put his hand on his cheek and seemed unphased. "Try a little harder, I almost felt that one," he taunted as the other Avengers held Natasha back. After a moment, Tony walked away and returned to his own room, not to be seen until the next morning.

**(This is a beautiful line break- Don't you like it?)**

**July 1st, 2014  
>8:59 A.M.<br>Stark Towers**

Tony stretched a bit as he made his seventh cup of coffee and then yawned. There was some sort of hubbub going on in the tower but he ignored it. Probably the capcicle waking up and thinking it was the year 2020 again or something. After his coffee machine had produced the brown ambrosia, Tony grabbed the cup and poured a little bit of sugar into it. He took a small sip before grabbing the newspaper and sitting at the table.

"Jarvis? What in the world is going on down there?" he asked after a moment as he skimmed over the newspaper article on him and the other Avengers fighting crime day in and day out.  
>"<em>Sir? It seems as if there is a problem in Captain Roger's room," <em>Jarvis responded as he took a peek into the room with the hidden cameras.  
>"Huh. Sounds like I was right. Capsicle really is off the deep end again," Tony said and downed the rest of his coffee. "Tell them I'm on my way."<br>"_Yes sir," _said Jarvis and, like that, Tony was on his way.

When Tony reached Steve's room, he was caught off guard by what sounded like a child screaming and crying. As far as he knew, Steve didn't have a kid. He was still a virgin, wasn't he? People back then had to save themselves for marriage and he was pretty sure that Steve didn't have the balls to do it with someone. He waved his hand for the door to open and stopped dead in his tracks. Instead of the immaculate figure of Steve Rogers laying on the bed being held down by the other team members, it was a very small boy with the same features as Steve being held by Natasha. The Black Widow was holding the boy, bouncing a little bit as the young boy screamed and sobbed.  
>Banner stood in the middle of the room, eyes wide. "Tony?" he asked with a shaking voice. "Yesterday there was a syringe sitting beside me. Did you use that to wake Steve up?" Tony nodded, incredibly confused for once. "Yes, I did. Was that a problem?"<p>

Bruce took a moment to calm himself before he nodded again. "Yes, it was. That syringe was full of the reversal serum for the super soldier program. It was released to me so I could replicate it in the hopes that we would be able to do something about the big guy. Did-" Bruce shuddered and closed his eyes as fright appeared in his mind. "Did you accidentally inject it?" Tony's eyes widened and he stopped. When Bruce noticed that Tony wasn't talking, he stopped completely and laid his head down. "Don't answer that. Don't answer. Let's get Steve to the medical bay, okay?"

Natasha walked by Tony as she made her way to the hallway and had to stop when Steve held his arms out for Tony. He didn't remember a thing but this man….. This man looked familiar somehow. Natasha looked surprised and looked at Tony with a look that said 'you hurt him, you are dead'. Tony shuddered and nodded before taking Steve and kissing his forehead.  
>"Hey buddy, you're okay. Relax. I'm sure crying makes your head hurt," Tony said quietly and began the walk to the medical bay. Steve sniffled and gripped at Tony's shirt as he kept crying.<p>

Fear gripped Steve's chest as he began to wheeze, coughing every once in a while. Tony stopped the dread that filled his heart as he sped to the medical bay. There was very little he wouldn't do right now to keep this boy safe, even though he knew very little of Steve's past. Every kid deserved to feel safe, no matter who they were or what they had done.  
>"Jarvis? Get Captain Roger's medical records unsealed and read them to us. Get a record of his past, where he grew up, when and whatever we might need to know. Contact Nick Fury, tell him what happened," Tony said after a moment as he got the door to the medical bay open. Steve was openly wheezing now, sending Bruce into a blind panic as he rushed around the room to get oxygen and an inhaler.<br>"_Steven Rogers, born on July 4th, 1918 to Sarah and Joseph. Suffers from a severe astigmatism, severe epilepsy, scoliosis, approximately 75% deaf at the age of 5, an arrhythmia, heart murmur, heart trouble, angina, high blood pressure, rheumatic fever and a further heart issue from that, stomach ulcers, pernicious anemia, flat feet, problems from scarlet fever, high risk for juvenile diabetes, sinusitis, frequent colds, nervous trouble, and fatigue. I am uncovering the rest as we go. It seems that Captain Rogers suffered numerous other issues as well," _Jarvis announced and then paused. The AI wasn't speaking much more, acting more like he was hiding something.  
>"You have got to be kidding me. The capsicle was born on July 4th? The guys who picked him must have went "Oh yeah, he was born on the fourth. Pick him out. Get him a uniform"," Tony grumbled as Steve gripped at his shirt and gasped. "Jarvis? What aren't you telling me?"<br>Jarvis didn't answer, staying silent for a moment as Natasha tried to get Steve to breathe with her. "_Sir, according to our intel and Captain Roger's file, his father was abusive and died in the beginning of WWII. His mother lived on until he was ten or so. At that point she died of an untreated, advanced case tuberculosis. She worked until her last day, trying to help pay for Captain Roger's medical bills. At that point, he lived on the streets and occasionally in the orphanages," _Jarvis answered, making everyone but Natasha and Bruce stop. They hadn't known a thing about about Steve's past and this made them stop.

Bruce showed Steve the inhaler and spoke loudly, trying to breach through his poorly functioning ears. "Steve? I'm going to put this in your mouth. When I say so, I need you to take a deep breath. This medicine will help you breathe easily," he almost yelled, getting a small nod from the wheezing and struggling boy. He quickly put it in the young boy's mouth and pressed down the plunger when he told Steve to breathe. They saw the effects almost immediately and could relax a little more when the wheezing calmed down and led to easy breathing.  
>Steve seemed to curl into a tiny ball and looked at them as Bruce sat on the edge of the bed. These strange people dressed like they were from the future. He didn't understand it. Wasn't he just coloring pictures with Momma after she got home from work? And the woman of the group was dressed so scantily…. He felt like he should be afraid of them. He had never seen some of the things around this room as well. Steve wanted his Momma to be here. She was always there when he was taken to the hospital.<p>

Bruce noticed the scared look on his face and sat on the edge of the bed before he offered Steve a hand to take. "Hi, Steve. My name is Bruce Banner. How do you feel? Better than before?" Steve nodded and looked at the hand skeptically. "How do you know my name, sir?" Steve asked and slowly took the hand. He was dwarfed by Bruce's tall and wirey figure but he seemed to be pretty courageous in the face of a man who was almost four times his side.

"Your mother told us when she dropped you off. She had to go out of town for a few months, do you remember that? You were sleeping when you were dropped off," Bruce covered quickly and smiled at the boy pleasantly. Steve still seemed to be wary of the other, frowning heavily.

"I want my momma. I'm scared," he said quietly and looked around. His eyes hit on Tony and he gasped. "Are you Howard Stark?" he asked excitedly and looked ready to bounce right out of his bed. It was a complete 360 and Tony was surprised. With a smile, he spoke and sat on the bed with Steve. "No. My name is Tony. Howard is my dad."

Steve nodded and looked shy again, blushing. He looked down at his feet before he rubbed at his eyes stubbornly. He was scared. What if Momma was going to get Father? He didn't want his father to return. Natasha picked up on his fright and kissed the top of his head with a fond smile. "It's okay. Hey, we're going out to get toys in a little bit. How about me and you go back to your room and find some clothes that won't hang off you. How does that sound?" Steve nodded in response and looked up at her with a small frown. He still didn't understand why she was dressed so scantily.

Natasha picked him up and ignored the shouts for her to put him down and in the bed. With so many medical issues, it was a surprise that he was even breathing. The whole room went silent after they were gone, Tony leaping into action to get all the information he could on Steve and his past.

"_Sir? I have the rest of the information," _Jarvis said not two minutes later. "Tell me," Tony said quickly and got a pad and paper to write it all down.

"_Steven Rogers, born July 4th, 1918. He was born to a Sarah and Joseph Rogers. Joseph was a soldier in WWI and died there. It was said that Joseph was a very abusive drunk who was not missed when he died. Sarah was a nurse who contracted Tuberculosis when Steven was born. She never got it treated because of the medical issues Steven suffered caused issues. Steven was orphaned at the age of 10 and lived in an orphanage for a while. This is where he met James "Bucky" Barnes. They become best friends and James helps Steven live each day by supplying heat through the night and helping when he's sick. Mr. Barnes joins the military when he is 18 and is placed in a unit. Steven joins the military via "Project Rebirth", a eugenics project to make a sick, disabled man into a perfect super soldier. Through this, Captain America is born. Steven's medical issues from birth include night sweats, severe epilepsy, pernicious anemia, a severe astigmatism, stomach ulcers, congenital heart defects, neurological and cardiac defects from rheumatic fever, heart trouble, angina, scoliosis, is approximately 75% deaf in both ears, severe asthma, flat feet, even more issues with his heart because of scarlet fever and a very high risk of diabetes. He also suffers from orthopedic problems. Would you like to know more?" _

Tony cursed a bit as he had to use two sheets of paper to write it all down. "More on his past. Also, get the files on the serum they used on him. Get a hold of Bucky, tell him to get down here. Understand?" Jarvis would have nodded if he could but he spoke instead.  
>"<em>Yes sir. Shall I get his likes, dislikes, if he's allergic to anythi-" <em>Tony cut the AI off, speaking loudly. "Yes! All of it!"

The room fell silent as Bruce took it all in. Those medical issues were big in these days and he couldn't believe that Steve had lived like this when he was younger and in the '20's. They were there for five minutes before Natasha walked in with Steve on her hip. "There are no clothes to fit him," she whispered to Tony and looked at him pointedly. Tony was about to say something when Jarvis broke in yet again.  
>"<em>Sir, Mr. Barnes is on his way. Shall I ask him to pick up some things that Mr. Roger's might like and be accustomed to?" <em>Tony nodded as Natasha passed Steve over to him. The mini super soldier was sleeping again, comfortable to be held. It was obvious that his mother was often the person to hold him when he didn't feel good and Tony was more than happy to help Steve.

"_Sir, there is one last thing. In Captain Roger's time, his nervous trouble was treated with mild electroshock therapy. Records show that Captain Rogers underwent three treatments by the time he was seven. After that time, he underwent seven other treatments until he was 18 and was able to say no." _ Everyone went silent, looking down at Steve with pained eyes. They had known that Steve had struggled when he read about news these days but now they really knew why.

"Thank you Jarvis. Please get Bucky here soon, okay?" Tony said as he began to rub at Steve's back as the little boy laid against his chest. "_Yes sir." _Silence reigned in the room as Tony began to bounce the tiny boy a little bit. He looked at the others and forced a small smile as Natasha spoke. "So, I think it's agreed that we'll all give Steve a good childhood while he's like this?" They all nodded as Tony began to rub at the other's back.

**Okay, I guess I'm going to end this chapter here. At this point, I think I'm going to skip to where Bucky appears.**

**To those who ask, I got Steve's illnesses from the Marvel Wiki and a few other places. I don't have anything to say to haters. I only took one liberty with an illness. I am trying to keep this as canon as I can.**

**Please R&R**

**SB-26, signing off. **


	2. Bucky Gives Some Insight

**Chapter 2, here we go!**

**I'm going to ask if anyone has nicknames from the Marvel universe that pertain to Steve that could be funny. Send them in as a review if you do.**

**Know that I'm going to be a bit evil to Steve and the others. Bear with me.**

Chapter 2: Bucky gives some insight

Tony sat on the couch with Steve on his chest, closing his eyes and humming quietly as they waited on Bucky to arrive. There was silence in the room as the others read, played games or thought heavily on Steve. Bruce was doing the latter, peering at the mini soldier as he brainstormed ways to help with his medical problems. For the most part, he wanted to make sure that Steve would stay stable but with how the man was Captain America, doing surgery on his heart or placing a pacemaker wouldn't work. He was fairly certain that those types of things would carry over to his future self. They could use medication to keep him stable though. Orthotics for his feet, epilepsy medication for his severe epilepsy, hearing aids for the hearing loss, a possible back brace for his scoliosis and he knew just who would prescribe all of that.

Tony, catching on to what Bruce was thinking, decided to playfully taunt the scientist. "Don't think too hard, your head might explode. I can practically see the steam already," he said and smiled as Steve began to suck on a finger. "Oh jeez, I so wish I could taunt him for this. Someone take a picture for proof!" Clint laughed and stepped up with a disposible camera, snapping a picture and then backing off again.  
>"So," Clint said after he had backed off, "how long until Bucky gets here? I mean, he can give us some insight to Steve. They knew each other in childhood, right?" Natasha nodded and sat beside Tony before motioning for him to pass Steve over.<p>

"They did," she started after Tony had managed to get Steve into her arms, "they met after Steve lost both his parents though. Met in a place called Hell's Kitchen if I remember correctly." Thor looked confused and cocked an eyebrow. "I have been to this place you call Hell once. There is no kitchen in it," he said and got a laugh out of the rest of the group. "No Thor. J-" Tony began to laugh heavily, shaking his head a bit.

Natasha rolled her eyes at the men in the room before she just rubbed at Steve's back. "You know, Steve is a cuddly kid. Cute too. Think he likes being held like this?" she asked and kissed his forehead sweetly. Steve shifted and let out a sigh before he stuck his fisted hand by his face.

"Probably does. It's weird to see him so small. It seems like he's maybe a sixth of his size," Bruce said and began to rub at his mouth and chin. "I need to take some blood soon. If he really has Pernicious Anemia, I need to look at the red blood cells and the iron levels. I also need to have him be tested for medical issues and the way they've harmed him." The room was silent again as Steve slept peacefully and the others thought. Clint had returned to his game and was trying the beat a level.

"What the hell is Pernicious Anemia? I mean, I know what anemia is basically but what is Pernicious Anemia?" Clint asked as he paused the game. He came to sit by Natasha, putting an arm around her shoulders and just lounging.

"Pernicious Anemia is when your body doesn't produce the enzyme to absorb B12. It's needed to break down iron in meats and such. When the person who suffers from Pernicious Anemia ends up not getting it, they suffer from extreme neurological defects or they just die suddenly. Back in Steve's time, the only way to get that enzyme was to eat approximately half a pound of raw liver or drink more than a pint of liver juice. Daily. In 1928, a liver extract was produced. I don't know what the treatment is in these days but it was a death sentence back then." Tony turned green and shuddered before wrinkling his nose.

"I think I would rather die," he said and then looked down at Steve again. They hadn't thought of the fact that Steve might be struggling heavily because of the medical issues he might have had when he was a little guy. "So, what do we do? I mean, Steve probably is going to be insanely scared in this time. Add in the fact that he's got insane medical issues and I don't know how we're going to do this."

It was Natasha that answered this time. "We raise him. Give him a life that he would normally never have. Sure, he's probably going to be heavily medicated but after a few days he would level out." Bruce nodded at that and got up before he put a hand on Steve's back as he slept. "Hearing aids will help with his hearing loss. We can do some tests to see what his degree of hearing loss is. It seems like he has about 80% because of the fact he's not stirring at all right now." As luck would have it, it was at this time that Steve began to wake. It started with a small shift and then a sigh as he seemed to struggle awake.

Natasha smiled at him as the little boy peeked up at her. "Hi buddy," she said quietly and stroked his back. Steve grinned shyly and hid his face in her neck as Tony laughed. Steve's head shot up as his eyes went wide and he peeked at Tony. He waved and then hid again. "Hey bud. Want to go over to Tony?" Natasha asked and Clint shook his head. "Oh no, Tony's held him already. I want to hold him," he said and scooped Steve into his arms.

"Who do you think is cooler? Me or Tony over there?" Steve shrugged and looked between the two. "I don't know." Clint faked a pout and then pointed to the arrows as he held Steve with one hand. "Do you see those? Those are mine. Tony hides behind a suit while I go out and fight them tooth and nail. So, who's better?" Steve giggled as Clint began to tickle his side.

Clint recoiled a little and then smiled brightly as he sat Steve down on the couch and kept tickling. "Is our Steve ticklish? Huh? Do you like being tickled?" Steve began to shriek in laughter, kicking out lightly. The shrill giggles made everyone smile brightly. Tony got up after he heard the doorbell ring, opening it and making sure to get out of the way as Bucky rushed in.

"How in the world did Steve get turned into a little kid? Because I swear, if you all have hurt him, I might kill you."  
>Tony rolled his eyes as Steve peeked out from behind Clint. "Bucky!" He yelled and seemed to want to get up. Clint moved out of the way while Bucky walked over. "Hey there Steve-y. How are you?" Steve held up his hands to Bucky and smiled. "How did you get so big?" Bucky smiled and picked the little boy up before shifting him onto his hip. "Well, your friends here found a way to grow me. Isn't that so cool? Now, how did you get so small, huh?" Steve seemed to roll his eyes as he gripped at Bucky's shirt.<p>

"Not funny, Bucky." He said and hid his face. Bucky laughed, watching as Steve began to pick at his shirt. After a moment, Steve looked at the bag in Bucky's other hand as the other male sat down. He didn't mention it though, just peering up at Bucky. After a few moments, Bucky kissed Steve's forehead with a fond smile. It was evident that Steve was like a little brother to Bucky, especially at this size. "I have some toys if you'd like them. Drawing stuff too." Steve's eyes lit up and he smiled brightly. "Really? I can draw with people here?" Bucky nodded and then watched as Steve's face fell and he seemed to hide again. After a moment, the boy whispered into Bucky's ear.

"Will the men laugh at me because drawing is girly?" Bucky shook his head and smiled. "No, promise. I think Doctor Banner draws too, don't you?" He shot a look at Bruce, who nodded. "Yes," he lied and smiled, "I do, but not greatly. Why don't you come draw with me?" Bucky passed Steve over to the man with a grateful smile before he took out the pad of paper and the drawing pencils. Bruce sat at the table and held Steve in his lap comfortably before he began to draw with Steve.

Tony looked at the winter soldier and looked him up and down. After a moment he spoke. "How did you know that would work?" It was barely more than a whisper but Bucky picked up on it just fine.

"Steve loves to draw and color. He's pretty good too. Anyway, it was what we would do when he was sick and stuck at home or something. I ended up taking care of him a lot. The matrons and his father couldn't care less and his mother was working half the time." Bucky rubbed at the back of his head and sighed. "Look, he's epileptic and almost fully deaf by this age. You need to speak louder and whatever you do, do not let him watch TV. Not yet anyway. He has seizures when flashing lights appear. Oh, and I'll be here but he likes to be held. His mom use to do it a lot when he was sick."

There was silence for a few minutes until Natasha spoke up. They all knew Bucky's story but how in the seven layers of Hell did Steve get into the military? "When he was selected for the program, the super soldier program, did you know?" Bucky shook his head in answer and frowned.

"No. I would have told him to go back home. But, you know, you guys don't know the Steve I do. My Steve is a tiny guy that gave back snappy remarks when pushed. Your Steve is the Steve that was made in a lab basically. My Steve is the guy I used to carry to his bed because he'd exhausted himself by walking all over the city to find something good to draw. Your Steve was an Eugenics project that was the big hype in the '40's. They put a chronically ill man in and got the world's perfect being out of it." Tony glanced back at Steve and Bruce, noticing just how small the little boy was.

Steve looked to be around two foot, seven inches with a bright mop of crazy blond hair. He seemed to be happy that someone was drawing with him even though Bruce really sucked at it. The fact that he was so into the picture he was drawing was surprising. The only time Tony could remember when Steve was so drawn to something was when they were saying the world from the Chitari. Even then Steve had seemed to have something on his mind.

The occupants of the room seemed to mill around as Bucky enlightened them on Steve and his childhood. It was nice to learn about Steve when they were the ones that normally told the stories. The talking stopped when Bruce said something.

"Guys? Something's wrong," he said and the whole room seemed to look at Steve and Bruce. Bruce was holding a drenched paper towel to Steve's nose, pinching his nose and looking a little frantic. "I can't get it to stop."

Bucky was over there in an instant, taking over. "Go get some towels. Steve has Pernicious Anemia. His body doesn't absorb vitamin B12 **((A/N: See end of chapter for information))**. It's why he gets nosebleeds and is so small. His body attacks itself because he has the anemia," he said as he grabbed a new paper towel and replaced it with the soaked through one. Steve's eyes were red rimmed and Bucky smiled at him.

"Don't start crying. You know it makes the nosebleeds worse. Relax, Stevie." Steve spit out a bit of blood from his mouth and Bucky looked up at Bruce. "He's okay. You guys might need to get raw liver or liver extract, it was used-" Bruce cut him off with a knowing smile. "To help give the sufferers B12. There's a way to give the patients B12 through a shot now. Because his condition is congenital **((From birth))**, that's all we can do. It'll help though. They're also delivering heart medication, a plethora of seizure medication, asthma inhalers, hearing aids and others that we might need. Don't worry." Bucky nodded and made a funny face at Steve, who giggled a little bit.

A few moments later, Bucky pulled away the towel and wiped at the last little bits of blood on Steve's nose. "There. Better?" Steve nodded and Bucky nodded right back at him. "Good. Want to keep drawing?" He shook his head and hugged Bucky tight.

"Where's my mommy? Did she go and get my dad again? He went to the bar and was arrested," he mumbled and laid his head on the taller man's chest. He really was tired of his father and his antics.

"No. You mom went to go and do some training for her job. Your friends and I are going to watch you while she's away. I have some puzzles, do you want to do those?" Steve shook his head again and just held onto Bucky. Bucky frowned and wrapped his arms a little bit tighter around the boy.

"Are you tired?" Steve nodded and Bucky looked up at the others. "There's a new night shirt and pants in the bag there. Can you grab them? Steve's not normally up for much longer before he falls asleep again."

Clint began to rummage through the bag, humming a small tune under his breath. It sounded like "Old McDonald Had a Farm" but no one could really be sure of that. Bruce glanced up at the clock, noticing it was only five. "Should we make him something to eat before he goes to sleep?" Bucky glanced down at Steve, noticing that his eyes were already drooping again.

"You can. He likes cream of wheat, rice, fruits and veggies. He doesn't like meat a whole lot for obvious reasons. He could probably be persuaded to try different food though," Bucky mumbled and stroked Steve's back.

They dressed him in a warm Captain America themed pajama outfit before they began to make a meal. Steve was out before dinner was made. Bucky held Steve close and closed his eyes for a moment. The rest of the group ate and cleaned up after themselves.  
>"Has he said anything about our past?" Bucky asked after a moment. He was holding Steve close to his chest as the mini-super soldier slept. The others shook their heads.<p>

"Well," Clint began, "he did talk about his mom going to get his dad. Said that he must have got into another fight and gotten arrested. How bad was his dad?" Bucky shrugged and sighed. "He got angry a lot. Died when Steve-y was younger but he still remembers a lot of it. The guy was abusive. Sent him to the hospital a lot. I can at least remember that." There was a moment of silence.

"Anything important we should know? Things we should or shouldn't do?" Bucky shrugged again and began to stroke through Steve's short hair. "No sudden movements. No TV until his seizures are in control I guess. He has Tonic-Clonic seizures. He ends up seizing at the push of a button. He likes to draw and color. He likes to play with blocks. Wanted to be a comic book artist. He did some art school classes but he's not going to broadcast that. His mom died of TB when he was around 10 or so." Tony looked incredulous.

"Art school? Captain America went to art school?" Bucky nodded. "I pushed him to go. He wanted to join the military but they wouldn't take him in the beginning. Well, that was before he was picked up for the program." Natasha scooted closer to possibly take Steve. The boy was so calm though. He was laying with his mouth open and his fist right by it, almost as if he were suddenly going to start sucking on his thumb.  
>"The super serum made Steve special. It made him better. I need to find a way to replace that serum…" Bruce commented as he rubbed his mouth and jaw. Bucky's head snapped up and he almost yelled. The only reason he didn't is that he knew it would wake Steve, even with his diminished hearing. He settled for simply speaking in a very harsh whisper.<p>

"Nothing, _nothing_, special about Steve came from that serum. Steve picked me up and made me happy when something bad happened." He put his arms around Steve protectively. "When he was sick in the hospital and I had to go on a date with someone, he sometimes snuck out, even on oxygen and all that crap. He took it off. If he didn't leave the hospital, I always came back and talked about the date while his mom worked. If it went bad, he never said "I told you so" or "Yeah, I knew that would happen". Your Steve might come from a box but my Steve is still the guy who I used to hold because his asthma would flare if he got too cold. My Steve is the guy who would get beat up in allyways because the guy who was bad mouthing something he believed in was 10x bigger than Steve." Natasha was silent as Bruce began to wonder if he should change Steve back.

Tony looked at Steve with an incredulous face. He slowly reached out, getting the tiny toddler and sitting back down, where he situated the boy on his chest like Bucky had him. Natasha spoke up at that point, not whispering like Bucky was. Well, she was going to say something when Steve suddenly went rigid. Tony frowned and gently poked Bucky.

"Put him on the ground. On his side." Bucky commanded and gathered a pillow to put under Steve's head. "Why? What's going on?" Clint asked as Tony gently put Steve on the ground. The boy was completely stiff as Bucky positioned him onto his side and his head was pillowed.

"Steve has Tonic-Clonic seizures. Grand Mal epilepsy. The beginning of his seizures are just him stiffening. Then it becomes normal seizures when the tonic part leaves. He moves violently." Bucky took off Steve's necklace and made sure he didn't have anything around him when the clonic stage came. It was completely sudden. There was no warning. Steve just began to move and make loud noises.

"He's not breathing!" Clint said and went to touch Steve. Bucky grabbed his arm quickly in an iron grip. "No!" He cried. "Don't touch him right now. You or Steve can get hurt. His breathing will ease when the seizure is over. Trust me." Clint retracted his arm and frowned as they could only watch Steve seize violently.

At four minutes and 49 seconds, Steve fell still again. As it was explained, Steve did begin to breathe normally. There was a small wheeze but no one seemed to mind. Bucky nodded and laid the boy onto his back. "Good. We're good. That was a Tonic-Clonic seizure." Natasha laughed and shook her head. "I think we gathered that." She said quietly. Bucky had to laugh himself, pulling the person he thought of as his brother into his arms.

Steve laid limply in Bucky's arms, breathing ever so slowly as he did so. Bucky kissed Steve's forehead and shifted his position before looking at the others. Tony decided, at this point, that it was time for them to put Steve in bed so that the others could talk for a bit. When he returned, they all were talking aimlessly.

"So, where is the little guy really from?" Clint asked, fiddling with his arrows again. Bucky tried not to laugh at the way Clint had said that. If he remembered correctly, that's what Steve had told him that Erskine had asked, in the exact same way. "Lower East Side, Manhattan. He was born there. At home, I think. I don't remember."

From there, questions flew at him from every side, He tried his best to answer them. In the end, Bucky began to get angry. All the answers to these questions were ones that they would have known if they had tried to get to know Steve as the super soldier. He began to snap. Natasha was the only one that had observed Steve in his natural habitat, knowing the answers. She had left to go sit with the boy in case he woke up.

"Stop!" Bucky yelled with a growl. The others all stopped, aside from Thor who just kept eating his poptart. "You want to know so much about Steve, read the reports from the '40's. When Steve was selected for the program. Don't you understand all the things I've told you? Steve was Irish. People hated the Irish in our times. Steve having no Pop was about all that I could have handled. He was chronically ill and he still handled all the crap he did. You want to know so much, look it up. Ask him maybe." He said before he pushed Bruce out of his way and returned to the room Steve was in.

**The next morning**

Bruce heard the doorbell ring at eight and promptly got up to receive his package. Bucky helped him carry it in, a little confused with what he saw while Bruce unpacked it. He recognized the hearing aids and the medication Steve would take but it still confused him. Bruce caught on to his confusion and spoke quietly.

"These are going to be his hearing aids. If he's as deaf as we think he is, he'll need these badly." He held up the lightweight machine. Bucky frowned and opened his mouth to ask a question. He then closed it again and helped unpack.

"What is your question?" Bruce asked as he scanned the bottles sent to him. He nodded at the dosages before he continued unpacking. "Nothing. It's just all kind of confusing. Steve never had his. His mom had bought them for him to try but they were so heavy and they hurt his ears so he never wore them." Bruce nodded and took the hearing aids out of the package. "Well, these should help. We were told he's approximately 75% deaf at this point, correct?" The Winter Soldier nodded and Bruce continued unpacking.

The two worked in silence until Bucky spoke up again, this time in a softer voice. "I'm sorry for snapping like I did. I'm just really frustrated. You all seem to treat Steve like he's this guy who was made from the super soldier serum. He's not. The only thing about him that changed was his appearance. I'm frustrated at myself too. I was a complete ass to Steve the night he enlisted. He was talking about trying to join up. I told him that he was joining because he wanted to prove something. He said it wasn't to prove something. I told him, "Right. 'Cause you got nothing to prove.". How messed up is that?" He looked ashamed of himself. "I knew it was his dream but I told him that he was just trying to prove something."

Bruce was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "He may not have wanted to prove something. He might have. Everyone has a need to prove themselves, even if they don't know it. I've always wanted to prove that I wasn't the big guy." Bucky had to smile at that, suddenly at ease again. There was an unspoken thanks in the air.

"So, Mr. Winter Soldier, got any stories that Steve wouldn't want shared?" Bucky busted out laughing.

**Author Note:**

**1) I'm going to list the canon medical issues Steve had before he got the serum and explain a few of them. If you have any questions, you can PM me.**

**Astigmatism  
>Scoliosis- a curvature of the spine<br>At least 50% deaf  
>Arrhythmia- his heart beats irregularly<br>Heart palpitations  
>High blood pressure<br>generic heart trouble  
>Angina- chest pain<br>Rheumatic fever- treated with aspirin  
>Stomach ulcers- made worse by aspirin<br>Pernicious Anemia  
>Flat feet<br>Scarlet fever  
>High risk for diabetes<br>sinusitis and frequent colds  
>Asthma<br>Nervous Trouble  
>fatigue<strong>

**I added in Epilepsy because it was something I've heard people say he had. Pretty much, I'm throwing him under the bus because the Avengers were kind of taking him for granted in the movie. It might be me but eh.**

_**Pernicious Anemia **_**is a condition where your body isn't able to absorb and use the vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is important in keeping your body healthy, your brain functioning correctly, helping to produce new blood cells and all around just boost your nervous system. I personally don't suffer from Pernicious Anemia or vitamin B12 deficiency so I'm using collective symptoms that I found on medical websites.**

**Symptoms of Pernicious Anemia:  
>Common Symptoms of Anemia<strong>

**a sore tongue (Weird symptom but whatever)**

**general weakness**

**Weight Loss  
>Neuropathic pain (Pain that your nerves give off because they are dying, injured or sick. I personally have neuropathic pain. It really, really sucks.)<br>Jaundice (A yellow-ish look to your skin)  
>Angular cheilitis (Sores at the corner of your mouth)<br>Dehydrated/cracked and pale lips  
>Dark circles around the eyes<strong>

**There are a lot more but I'm going to leave that here.**

**Back in Steve and Bucky's time, asthma was treated with cigarettes, talking therapy and other things that were more for the placebo effect. The doctors believed that Asthma was a psychological thing. Because his mother was a nurse, she knew how to help him but it was still a big losing battle. His mother had Tuberculosis, a disease that starts in the lungs and moves, ending up killing you.**

**The fact that Steve even lived through his first year is a miracle.**

**Also, because he had Rheumatic fever, Scarlet fever, asthma, **_**and **_**heart issues, Steve is in a bad place. Basically, Steve was born to die without the super soldier serum.**

**If you have any questions, feel free to message me and ask. **


End file.
